Ex-county official in Ohio guilty of corruption

Published: March 9, 2012 1:37PM

AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A former county official in Ohio has been convicted at a high-profile corruption trial.

An Akron federal court jury convicted former Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora of 33 counts, including racketeering and bribery, Friday afternoon. He was acquitted of one mail fraud count.

Dimora once led the powerful Democratic Party in Cleveland.

The corruption investigation helped fuel a referendum that replaced the three-commissioner county government in Cleveland with a county executive and elected council.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (http://bit.ly/yInQu2 ) says Dimora's wife and other family members were in court when the jury returned the verdict after more than a week of deliberations.

The verdict caps a federal investigation that led to more than 50 convictions involving county officials, employees and contractors who traded bribes for government jobs and contracts.